"What are some of your favorite memories from working with Ellen Page and Alia Shawkat?

Tillman: I was really only on set for a few days. That part was shot in Detroit. It was really fun to show up and introduce the cast to my local friends. We ended up having really fun game nights at Meg White's house—Trivial Pursuit and beer. I had been friends with Alia for a while and met Ellen on set. We didn't really start working on ideas together until we all went to Sayulita, Mexico, in a group for New Year's. That's where Stitch N' Bitch was born. We met a few times in L.A. to discuss, then we went to Amsterdam to write the first two episodes. HBO liked what they read, so we are currently developing it with them.

CP: What role are you playing in the production of Stitch N' Bitch?

Tillman: As of now, I'm playing Har Mar. Everyone is playing an amped-up version of themselves, for the most part. I'll be kind of like the Schneider in the girls' apartment building. Ellen and Alia will be Nico and Kyla in a perfect world. That's the idea, but we can't really announce anything official yet because we haven't shot anything yet."

At the moment it looks like the trio will play an active part in it If so, I hope it won't affect the quality of the final product when the writers and producer also step in front of the camera.

[Edit - November 5, 2009]

Here's another interview with Har Mar talking about the upcoming series and a threesome

Sean Tillman's back to grin and bare it as Har Mar Superstarby Carl Atiya Swanson, published on November 5, 2009

Be forewarned: If you attend a Har Mar Superstar show, there is a good chance you'll be taking your clothes off. It's a lock that Har Mar himself will be stripped down by the end of the night. The stocky, balding Minnesotan whose driver's license reads "Sean Tillman" makes an unlikely lothario, but the confidence, dedication, and goofy energy he exudes is undeniably charming. Tillman has had a busy year both musically and beyond, releasing his first Har Mar album in five years, Dark Touches, and seducing Hollywood with a co-starring role in Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut Whip It, and co-writing Stitch N' Bitch, an HBO show in production with Whip It stars Ellen Page (Juno) and Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development). Before he returned home this week for a show with Kool Keith Nov. 5 at the Triple Rock and a headlining gig at the Varsity Nov. 6, The A.V. Club caught up with Tillman about his projects, touring, and having cold cuts eaten off his chest.

The A.V. Club: So here’s the question I feel I have to ask, given the Har Mar Superstar persona. Are you sleeping with Ellen Page and Alia Shawkat?Sean Tillman: I am not. I am not having any threesomes with Alia and Ellen. That would be totally weird.

AVC: But you are writing a show with them for HBO.ST: Yeah, but that's totally different. [Laughs.] They are like my sisters. So that would be gross. I would be a gross person. [Laughs.]

AVC: Stitch N' Bitch has been described as following two New York hipster girls trying to become artists in Los Angeles, but there aren't many other details out there yet. Can you shed some more light?ST: It's basically making fun of ourselves, making fun of hipster culture that goes on around us that we also are part of.

AVC: It's meta-hipsterism.ST: Yes, exactly. [The characters are] trying so hard to fit in that they ruin everything that they touch.

AVC: Are you going to act in it?ST: We all want to. I mean, that's the idea of the whole show. It's all up to schedules, and if HBO makes it a series. I'm sure we would all be more than psyched to have our own show that we would be running and acting in and writing.

AVC: If it's anything like the "Don't Stop Believing" video you made with them, America should hold onto its pants.ST: Yeah, that's definitely what we are like when we are together so I have a feeling that some of that spirit shall be reflected in the show. [Laughs.]

AVC: How did you get cast in Whip It?ST: I’m friends with Drew and she thought it would be fun for me to do that role. I don't know, that's about it. I was just hanging around after a tour and I got a call seeing if I wanted to come play this role in like, two days and I did. It was awesome.

I'm going to Amsterdam on Monday... maybe I can somehow write the first two episodes of a hipster comedy which will one day star Ellen Page and Alia Shawkat. But in all greatness, this sounds like it'll be a blast.

In the country dead bodies live in swamps and ditches and shallow graves. A man dumps the body of a girl in a ditch. The body rotts melts into slime. Flowers pop up where the body lies, seeds fly out of the flowers and a bee sucks the flowers and makes honey. Then the family of the girl buys the honey from the store. And the family eats the girl.

GiveHimTheKick wrote:I'm going to Amsterdam on Monday... maybe I can somehow write the first two episodes of a hipster comedy which will one day star Ellen Page and Alia Shawkat. But in all greatness, this sounds like it'll be a blast.

In the country dead bodies live in swamps and ditches and shallow graves. A man dumps the body of a girl in a ditch. The body rotts melts into slime. Flowers pop up where the body lies, seeds fly out of the flowers and a bee sucks the flowers and makes honey. Then the family of the girl buys the honey from the store. And the family eats the girl.

One project you’ve been attached to for over a year now is the HBO pilot you’re working on with your Whip It co-star Ellen Page. What’s the status of that?

Alia Shawkat: Yeah, it’s still called Stitch & Bitch. [Laughs.] Nice title, right? It’s a show about hipsters, and we’re still in the works. We’re at HBO, still working on the script, and I think we’re having a table read soon. It’ll be cool if it comes to fruition.

Is it pro-hipster or anti-hipster?

Alia Shawkat: I think it’s a mix of both. They’re lovable characters, but at the same time they are silly hipsters. But that’s something that’s so funny about hipsters, that they take it as an insult if you call them that word. It is making fun of them, but also making fun of ourselves, because Ellen and I are a part of that world, I guess.

With a role on one of the great television comedies of all time under her belt, Alia Shawkat now finds herself in an interesting but all-too-familiar showbiz conundrum: Trying to build a career when everybody knows you as "that girl from Arrested Development." One step in the right direction is Cedar Rapids, an Ed Helms vehicle in which Shawkat plays a small-town hooker with a drug habit who takes Helms' prudish insurance salesman under her slightly shady wing. And Shawkat isn't exactly waiting around for that next great script -- instead, she's writing her own. Currently in development at HBO is Stitch n’ Bitch, a series the California native wrote with friends Ellen Page and Har Mar Superstar about two hipsters who'll do anything to live their lives as artists. We recently caught up with the actress to discuss the negative connotations of the word 'hipster,' finding worthwhile scripts, and Arrested Development: the movie.

Is it difficult finding good female roles?
It is hard. I’m in a position right now where I’ve been lucky enough to keep working, but it’s definitely not easy. It’s hard to find roles that aren’t repetitive. Every now and then something cool will come up, but most scripts I read are like the begrudged angry teenager. I’m like, I did that once and it got canceled, so I rather not do it again.

So is Cedar Rapids indicative of something stood out?
It’s one of the first more adult roles that I played. And then Miguel, we were friends before Cedar Rapids came to fruition, so when he called me, he was like, “I want you to play a hooker and she’s a drug addict too!” And I was like, Yay, that sounds fun. So that was a really fresh role for me, and I got to change my hair, which was really fun.

Were you guys friends because you worked on something?
I was shooting Whip It in Michigan, and he was shooting Youth in Revolt with Michael Cera, and so we all met and had a steak dinner.

Have you tried to create your own roles through writing?
Yes. I met Ellen Page on Whip It and Shawn Tillman – Har Mar Superstar—working on a show now that’s in development on HBO called Stitch n’ Btitch , but I think probably 10,000 people say that. We decided to go to Amsterdam for ten days, and we just went there and wrote this show, the three of us, and we got inspired through herbal substances and just being in a new country, and we wrote a pilot and never thought anything would happen, and then HBO really liked it.

Did you bring it to HBO yourself?
We did, yeah, with the help of Ellen as well, because she’s famous. But it’s still in development and we’re going to be doing a table read soon, but we’ve created a pretty stupid hipster versions of ourselves.

So it’s the two of you moving from Williamsburg to Silver Lake?
Yeah, we both want to become artists of any type or form. She’s the more earthy bitter one, like, We’ve got to save the world—that kind of hipster. I’m more of the, like, ‘I express myself through fashion and art, but I can’t really do anything type,’ and I just spend all my money.

Your parents’ money?
Yeah, my two gay dads’ money.

What did you base it on?
Honestly, slight exaggerations of ourselves. I used to live in Silver Lake and Ellen used to live in Williamsburg, and the culture that you’re surrounded in at this moment. I’m not going to pretend I’m not a hipster. What’s so funny about it is it has a bad connotation. Hipsters think it’s stupid to be called a hipster, but that’s what you are, and that’s what your friends are. That’s not bad, but that’s the whole point: We all want to be so different from everybody else. But I remember one of the lines when we were in Amsterdam, there was this homeless boy on the street, and he was pretty young, and Ellen was like, ‘Oh my god is that boy okay?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, he’s fine, he’s dressed okay.’ My character’s name is Kyla, and we ended up using that as something she says. Like there’s a homeless guy, but she’s like, “Well, he’s dressed okay,” so we kind of just pull from ourselves, but put it in extreme situations.

After doing something like Arrested Development, are scripts inevitably disappointing because you’ve seen what real quality is?
Yes and no. I haven’t read any television that I found as quick as Arrested Development, because they put so much into one episode of that show, and now when you read scripts, there’s so much talking about what’s happening and spoon feeding you the characters, and the jokes are so on the nose. But when I’d read an episode of Arrested, we didn’t really know what was happening until it was getting shot, and stuff didn’t make sense but in a great way. I think actors have more of an opportunity to create stuff when it’s not really planned out for them.

Do you do any interviews where someone doesn’t ask you about the Arrested Development movie?
It’s more people that come up to me on the street and are like, ‘So when’s the movie happening?!’ And I’m like, ‘Guys, I don’t know, and I don’t know you!’ I just hope it happens soon because people are going to start wondering

I heard that Mitch said it was going to happen this year?
Yes, very exciting. He doesn’t really talk to us about it directly, but I’m hoping it happens soon.

That’s something you’d like to be a part of?
Of course. Anyone I talk to that’s in the cast is really game. It’s about scheduling, but it’s gotten to the point where we never knew so many people would be so interested, that I think if it were to happen, people would put their schedules aside to get it done. And I think it would be a quick shoot too.

Is it strange that there’s so much interest in the show now that it’s over?
Yeah, it’s kind of ridiculous. Not to bash Fox, because Fox is paying for my livelihood right now, but they never advertised, and didn’t really know what to do with it, I think. So it’s a surprise to everybody that people are caring about this little show that was canceled so many years ago. It’s very strange to everybody, even to Mitch. I don’t think he knew it would get this far. I think a big part of why he’s been doing this is because of Jason Bateman. So he’s like, ‘Well, I guess I should write this thing.’ Because I don’t think he wanted to, to tell you the truth. I think he was kind of hurt.

Did that experience sour you in any way?
It getting canceled?

Yeah.
At the time it was disappointing, because you’re with your friends, and it’s kind of like a family, and we loved what we were doing. I was getting paid weekly, which was also very nice. I love television shows, but I think three seasons is a good amount of time.

Is it a struggle to remain a working actress?
The minute I think I’m going to have to get a day job, I get a part. So it’s this weird cycle.

Have you come close to getting a day job?
I’m thinking of getting a day job. I like drawing cartoons, so I’m working on writing a cartoon show and doing other things to keep myself busy, instead of just waking up and having breakfast and going back to sleep. I love drawing just as much as acting, so I’ve been able to go back and forth. I think my agents get a little annoyed because I like to be picky with films, but I want it to be something good. Even though I still have to audition and jump through hoops to get the part.

Is there something I would know of that your agents wanted you to do, but you turned down?
Well, that’s not fair, it’ll sound like I’m bashing those projects. I’m not really the right type for a lot of those movies anyways, so they’re not going to hire me—like the part that’s ‘She’s the hottest girl at the school.’ First of all, I don’t want to be in high school anymore. I get sick when I’m in high schools. And second of all, it’s just not going to work. But there are good scripts coming. They seem to get lower and lower budget, but they seem to be good, quality scripts.

The Oranges sounds interesting to me.
Yeah.

How was that?
It was really fun. That was something I auditioned for years ago, and it kind of disappeared and came back. It was a really fun shoot. That was something where I got to create a really cool character.

Who do you play in that?
Her name’s Vanessa, and she’s the narrator, and I play Hugh Laurie and Catherine Keener’s daughter. If they had sex, they’d have me. And then Leighton Meister sleeps with my dad and that kind of destroys everything. It’s interesting, because as a narrator, they usually have the most open, wisest person telling the story, but in this case, it’s like the bitter, selfish, angry girl who’s telling the story.

Wonder what those "herbal substances" were I had a relative that went to Amsterdam....and took a photo of himself with a blunt that would make a Gangsta Rapper cry with envy

Sounds like a very interesting show

Well hey Ellen is Canadian, it's probably the very first thing she did when she landed in Amsterdam . I don't even know the basis of the Canadian stoner stereotype, I don't see any evidence of it but I'm sticking with it .

Well hey Ellen is Canadian, it's probably the very first thing she did when she landed in Amsterdam . I don't even know the basis of the Canadian stoner stereotype
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You gotta check out the Trailer Park Boys video clips Dom has on ellenpage.org.....there's some Canadian stoners on there

UCFRdWarrior wrote:Well hey Ellen is Canadian, it's probably the very first thing she did when she landed in Amsterdam . I don't even know the basis of the Canadian stoner stereotype
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You gotta check out the Trailer Park Boys video clips Dom has on ellenpage.org.....there's some Canadian stoners on there

The DVDs are pretty cheap online, once I have free spending money again perhaps I'll just take a dive and buy a season or something. I've heard damn good things.

bluetoes591 wrote:

UCFRdWarrior wrote:I don't even know the basis of the Canadian stoner stereotype

I would hazard a guess that it has its basis in the Bob and Doug McKenzie characters, originally from SCTV. They were Canadian hosers, not stoners but the connection is obvious.